


Iftattonal Society 



OF THE 



Sine Brts 



REPORT 



OF 



SPECIAL COMMITTEE 



ON THE 



Preservation of Rock Creek 
Valley as a Public Park 






"\iS . t . IToti^L 






THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE FINE ARTS 



OFFICERS : 
CHARLES M. FPOULKK, President 
CHAS. W. NEEDHAM, First Vice-President 
HENNEN JENNINGS, Second Vice-President 
T. WAYLAND VAUGHAN, Secretary 
BERNARD R. GREEN, Treasurer 



COUNCIL, : 
WILLIAM H. HOLMES 
JOSEPH C. HORNBLOWER 
ARTHUR JEFFREY PARSONS 
MARVIN F. SCAIFB 

Charles J. Bell, ex-presidot 



Address of the Secretary : Cosmos Club 



At an informal meeting of members of the National 
Society of Fine Arts, held December 9, 1906, at the resi- 
dence of Mrs. Alice P. Barney, 2306 Massachusetts Ave- 
nue, it was decided to suggest to the Council of the 
Society that it appoint a sub-committee of the Civic Art 
Committee to be called the "Rock Creek Valley Preserva- 
tion Committee." The Council adopted the suggestion 
and appointed the following gentlemen to serve on said 
sub-committee, with power to add to their number: 

Mr. Charles M. Ffoulke, Chairman. 

Dr. Charles W. Needham, First Vice-Chairman. 

Mrs. Alice P. Barney, Second Vice-Chairman. 

Mr. Glenn Brown, Secretary. 

A special committee consisting of the following gen- 
tlemen was appointed to prepare a paper upon the pres- 
ervation of the Rock Creek valley as a public park: 

Mr. Charles M. Ffoulke, Chairman. 

Mr. Hennen Jennings. 

Mr. J. C. Hornblower. 

Mr. Walter Page. 

Mr. Glenn Brown. 



This special committee submits the following report :: 



SOME REASONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF 

ROCK CREEK VALLEY AS A 

PUBLIC PARK. 

Report of Special Committee. 

Your committee begs to state that in its judgment the 
proposed tunneling and filling of Rock Creek Valley 
will cost much more than the amount necessary to pur- 
chase the creek and adjacent lands, remove the debris, 
construct a winding drive along the creek, and lay out 
and properly improve the banks as proposed by the Park 
Commission. 

This Commission consisted of Daniel H. Burnham, 
Charles F. McKim, Augustus St. Gaudens and Frederick 
Law Olmstead, Jr., who ably and clearly support their 
plan in their report on the park system of the District 
of Columbia. Appendix D to this report, which we 
print in full on the following pages, discusses in a con- 
cise and able way, first, a large covered masonry culvert 
in connection with a boulevard ; and, second, the open 
channel of the creek, the improvement of its banks, the 
construction of the roads and the spanning of the valley 
by bridges, and closes with the following significant state- 
ment : 

"It is our conclusion that the Rock Creek Park should 
be treated as an open valley crossed as often as may be 
necessary by handsome and substantial bridges, flanked 
l>y traffic roads connecting on a level with the adjacent 
city streets and including at a lower level near the stream 
a drive or drives and such paths as may be needed." 

The cost data in Appendix D is taken from a report 
by Captain, now Colonel W. T. Rossell, former Engi- 
neer Commissioner of the District of Columbia, and his 
assistants. His report will be found in the "Report of 
the Operations of the Engineer Department of the Dis- 



trict of Columbia for 1893," beginning page 238, and 
extracts therefrom to which we call special attention, are 
printed in the following pages. 

No special appropriation was made to gather informa- 
tion ior this report, so the work was done by the regular 
engineer force of the District of Columbia at such times 
as they could spare from their routine duties. Under 
the circumstances it was most creditably done and forms 
an excellent basis for further investigation. 

The plan and estimates of Colonel Rossell were made, 
it must be remembered, prior to the initiation of the Park 
system of 1902. 

His estimate for the tunneling and filling plan calls for 
an expenditure of nearly ten millions of dollars, which 
would have to be met by the Government unless the 
Government went into the business of selling the con- 
demned lands in competition with owners and dealers of 
real estate in the city in order to defray part of the 
expenses. It is not probable the condemned lands would 
prove of any value for building purposes until after the 
construction work was finished, and the character of such 
filled ground would not justify buildings of value being 
placed upon it for a long time. 

In view of the fact that the data on which these reports 
are based is of a tentative nature, it seems to us that it 
would be wise for the Government, even on engineering 
and utilitarian grounds, and before radical steps are taken 
for the filling up of the valley of Rock Creek, to make an 
investigation de novo, and that an invitation be extended 
to the Park Commission again to express its views on 
account of altered conditions. 

To all observant people who have seen this valley, it is 
clearly apparent that to improve it without destroying 
its natural features will add materially to the attractions 
of the city and form a beautiful and convenient means of 



communication between the Potomac Park and the parks 
to the north and make of them one continuous system. 
Those who recall the beauties of the Seine at Paris on a 
grand scale, and the beauties of the Leith at Edinburg, 
and of the little stream at Pittsburg on a smaller scale, 
will fully realize that maintaining Rock Creek Valley as 
a public park will add greatly to the charms of Washing- 
ton. The National Society of the Fine Arts is preparing 
lantern slides of the Leith and the Pittsburg creek for 
exhibition to its members and to the public, so that those 
who have not seen either waterway can recognize how 
greatly they add to the attractiveness of their respective 
cities. 

Your Committee understand that a number of George- 
town people believe that the value of their property is 
kept down by the present uninviting connections with 
Washington and that values will rise when the valley 
is filled. To all who are of this belief we pre- 
dict disappointment because the proposed connections 
will be less inviting" than the existing ones, as it 
is natural that only inferior houses will be built upon 
the new made ground, whereas, if the valley is preserv- 
ed and is spanned by graceful bridges, values would ad- 
vance because the two sections would be united in a beau- 
tiful manner, as are the two sections of Paris, Edin- 
burg and other European cities. 

Your Committee desire to impress upon the minds of 
the citizens of Washington and Georgetown that parks 
are the "lungs of a city" and afford children a daily 
opportunity of breathing fresh, pure air, and are in con- 
sequence of incalculable benefit in the preservation of 
the children's health. 

The main reasons for the preservation of the Rock 
Creek Valley are succinctly embodied in the following 
resolutions adopted at a meeting of a number of the 



residents of Washington and Georgetown on the 25th of 
May, 1906: 

''First. That it is unwise to prosecute work which will 
deprive the District of any portion of this valley from 
park to river by filling, by diverting, or by covering in the 
waters of the creek. 

"Second. As there is no park in the portion of the Dis- 
trict west of Dupont Circle, it is desirable to keep this 
portion of the valley open for the purpose of a park. 

"Third. Such a park will add to the beauty and attrac- 
tiveness of the adjoining neighborhood, and it will add 
to the healthfulness of the community by furnishing a 
channel for the circulation of air. prevent the spread of 
disease, and act as a zone of safety in case of conflagra- 
tion beginning on either side. 

"Fourth. On the other hand, the treatment by filling 
will create a large area which will not be immediately 
suitable for building operations, and will, in all prob- 
ability, be occupied by speculative buildings of an infe- 
rior character, decreasing the value of the surrounding 
property, and increasing the danger from fire. 

"Fifth. The argument that the valley separates the two 
portions of the community and decreases the value of 
property in Georgetown is fallacious. The filling will 
not increase property values. What is needed to bring 
the two communities into closer contact are more and 
better bridges. A bridge at O Street and one at N Street 
would accomplish this result. 

"Sixth. It is not intended to antagonize the acquisi- 
tion of any other tracts for park purposes, but it is be- 
lieved that it is of first importance to acquire the borders 
of all the watercourses within the District. 

"Seventh. The carrying of Rock Creek by culvert 
through this section will be, if consummated, the first 
deviation from the carefully studied plan of the Senate 



Park Commission, who were acknowledged experts, and 
we feel that this deviation from this plan would be most 
unfortunate in the future development of the city." 

The delegates of the American Institute of Architects, 
representative men selected by their chapters from all 
sections of the United States, interested and intelligent 
in landscape art and architecture, discussed the subject 
df the preservation of Rock Creek Valley as a public park 
at the Annual Convention held January 9, 1907, and 
passed the following resolutions : 

"Whereas, it is proposed to make a culvert to conduct 
the waters of Rock Creek from Massachusetts Avenue 
to the river preparatory to rilling the valley of Rock 
Creek, and, 

"Whereas, this is a beautiful valley, peculiarly adapted 
for use as a park, and, 

"Whereas, this valley is the natural link between the 
Mall and Rock Creek Park, and its preservation is one 
of the important elements in the Park Commission's plan, 
and, 

"Whereas, this valley is needed for health and beauty 
and to complete the logical development of Washington 
City ; therefore, be it 

"Resolved, That the American Institute of Architects 
heartily approves the action of the National Society of 
the Fine Arts in advocating the retention and beautifica- 
tion of Rock Creek Valley, making it the connecting link 
between the Mall and upper Rock Creek Park. The 
Institute considers this most important to the beauty and 
systematic development of the city of Washington." 

Charles M. Ffoulke, 
Hennen Jennings, 
j. c. hornblower, 
Walter Page, 
Glenn Brown, 

Special Committee. 



APPENDIX D. 

From the "Report of the Park Commission," con- 
sisting of Daniel H. Burnham, Charles F. McKim, 
Augustus Saint Gaudens and Frederick Law Olm- 
stead, printed on pages 137-142 of "The Park System 
of the District of Columbia," Fifty-Seventh Congress, 
Senate Report No. 166. 

"First. To build a large covered masonry culvert 
or sewer for the creek, and to fill around and over 
this structure so as to obliterate the valley and raise 
it to the level of the adjacent lands ; constructing a 
parkway or boulevard upon a portion of the filled 
land and subdividing the remainder into streets and 
lots for sale. 

"Second. To improve the present open channel 
of the creek, regrade its banks, and improve them 
for park purposes, and to construct roads and paths 
within the park thus formed, spanning the valley by 
frequent street bridges to provide close connection 
with Georgetown. 

"The arguments for and against each of these 
plans may be divided into considerations of expense 
and considerations of direct benefit to the com- 
munity. 

"As the question of cost is merely comparative 
we need not discuss those items which would be sub- 
stantially the same in either case. The most im- 
portant of these are the cost of land taken, the cost 
of intercepting sewers, and the cost of roads and 
other surface features of the parkway. 

"The great expense of the first plan lies in the 
covered waterway, which is estimated in Captain 
Rossell's report at $2,358,925, and the filling and 
grading at $1,752,424, amounting, with proportion- 



ate contingencies of $411,134, to a total of 
$4,522,483. 

"The corresponding expenses under the open-val- 
ley plan have been approximately estimated at 
$100,000 for the improvement of the channel, 
$230,000 for excavation and grading, and $200,000 
for retaining walls, etc., amounting, with $53,000 
contingencies, to a total of $583,000. 

"To these preliminary expenses must be added, in 
the case of the second plan, the cost of building addi- 
tional bridges across the valley and renewing some 
of the existing bridges, which, according to their 
number and character, might amount to from 
$1,000,000 to $1,500,000, to be expended from time 
to time as occasion may demand, while from the 
cost of the first plan is to be deducted the net salable 
value of the land not occupied by streets and park- 
ways, amounting to about 1,160,000 feet. While 
any estimate of this salable value can be little more 
than a guess, we may accept as a basis the estimates 
given in Captain Rossell's report, taking as the min- 
imum 86 cents and as the maximum $2.58 per foot. 

"This would give maximum gross returns of 
$2,992,800, and minimum gross returns of $997,600; 
or, after deducting the cost of necessary streets, 
$130,000, net gross returns not less than $870,000 
nor more than $2,860,000. 

"From the above figures it would appear that un- 
der favorable circumstances the profit on land sales 
under the first plan might make its total cost some 
$400,000 less than that of the second plan, but that 
otherwise its cost might exceed that of the second 
plan by some $2,000,000. 

"This is not, however, quite a sound comparison, 
because, on account of the magnitude of the work 



and the length of time required for the settlement 
of the enormous fill under the first plan, it would be 
not less than fifteen and probably twenty years from 
the beginning of the work before the land or the 
boulevard would become available for use, while the 
less costly second plan would be completed within 
five years. The interest charges, at 2 per cent, on 
the sums invested in land holdings and in construc- 
tion under the second plan, would be nearly 
$400,000 ; but under the first plan during fifteen 
years they would amount to over $2,000,000, and 
should they run for five years more, would amount 
to more than three and a quarter millions. 

"It is evident, after all due allowance is made for 
the imperfect data upon which the comparison is 
based, that the first plan would under any circum- 
stances be far more costly than the second plan with 
its open valley. 

"The parkway provided under either plan would 
be in itself agreeable and dignified. Under the first, 
or culvert plan, there would be a broad, central road- 
way, flanked by four rows of trees in turf parkings, 
with promenades. Outside of these parkings would 
be wide streets for house frontage and for traffic, 
with the usual sidewalks and narrow parkings. The 
grades would be easy, the alignment agreeable, and 
the general effect, regardless of the quality of the 
abutting private property, would be similar to that 
of many of the notable boulevards of European 
capitals. But it is impossible so to disregard the 
appearance of the surrounding and inclosing build- 
ings, for in boulevards of this formal urban type it 
is the buildings that fix the character, while the trees 
are merely a decorative adjunct. 

"The portion of Georgetown and Washington 



10 



through which the line passes is now given over 
partly to manufacturing and partly to a poor class 
of residences. It is very far from agreeable in ap- 
pearance, and it is hardly to be expected that it will 
become a first-class part of the city, because natural 
growth exerts no pressure in that direction. The 
tide of development can often be deflected by park 
and street improvements, but it can very seldom be 
reversed. A parkway, therefore, built according to 
the first plan would probably be lined by factories, 
tenement houses and the like, on a level with the 
drive and separated from it only by the width of a 
street and four rows of tree trunks. A formal urban 
boulevard is very dignified, impressive and interest- 
ing when it presents an agreeable aspect of city life, 
but when it presents a disagreeable aspect of city life 
and remains, as it must, just as intimately a part of 
that life it ceases to be satisfactory. 

"Under the second or open valley plan the broad 
main drive accompanied by paths would run along 
a little above the creek, somewhat as does the new 
drive through Rock Creek Park. The present val- 
ley, which has been narrowed by the constant dump- 
ing of earth over its edge, would be widened by 
excavation at the restricted points to a semblance of 
its original form and clothed with turf and trees, 
while the necessary provision for business traffic and 
for building frontage would be made by border 
roads on a level with the existing streets. Along 
these border roads the same factories, tenements, and 
the like would doubtless be built as in the other 
case, but with the traffic roadways from 30 to 40 
feet above the park drive such occupation would not 
intrude itself forcibly upon the attention, even if it 
were not entirely cut off from view. 



11 



"Besides secluding the parkway from direct and 
intimate association with an unattractive part of the 
city, the higher elevation of the regular streets would 
permit them to cross the parkway above grade by 
bridges spanning the valley, so that the busy and 
growing traffic of pedestrians, wagons, carriages, 
and especially electric cars would not be brought in- 
to conflict with the pleasure travel. From every 
point of view this is to be desired. For the driver 
of a spirited horse, for the wheelman, even for one 
strolling afoot along the parkway, the necessity for 
crossing a busy thoroughfare at every block, to- 
gether with several electric-car lines, would seriously 
mar the ease and comfort of a pleasure excursion, 
while the obstruction to business traffic by grade 
crossings of a thronged parkway is not to be ignored. 
In the city of Boston recently the objections to a 
long diagonal crossing of a traffic street with the 
principal parkway were felt to be so great that the 
city went to a large expense to provide a second 
street for traffic and electric cars, less direct, but 
passing under the park drive. 

"An advantage of the street-level boulevard that 
would offset, at least in part, the obstruction which 
it might offer to cross traffic, is that it would permit 
more connecting streets across the valley than would 
be reasonable or feasible with the open valley plan, 
where each cross street would have to be carried on 
a bridge. But with half the streets carried across 
on bridges, as is perfectly feasible, the interference 
of the valley with cross-town travel would be very 
slight. It is not a question of a uniform tide of 
travel from one side of the valley to the other; it 
is a question of travel between various regions some- 
what remote on either side — travel which naturally 



12 



tends into a few main arteries. If the valley were 
converted into a uniform plain the bulk of the travel 
would still continue to flow on a few principal lines, 
and if these be well provided for by bridges the 
absence of a few intermediate crossings will be of 
little consequence. 

"Objection has been made to a valley parkway 
secluded in any degree from the streets by difference 
in level — particularly if the seclusion be increased 
by trees and bushes — on the ground that it would be 
very difficult to police in such a region as that bor- 
dering upon Lower Rock Creek. This raises a 
problem not to be lightly pushed aside; but if car- 
ried to its logical conclusion, it means that we are 
to have in the poorer quarters of the city no parks 
in the least degree retired from the streets or ma- 
terially differing in treatment from their bald and 
sordid surroundings; for any park is more liable to 
abuse than is a street. The answer to the objection 
is that we can not have good things in this world 
without paying for them and that part of the price 
of parks is the policing of them. The attempt to 
secure the policing of parks as a mere incident of 
street policing it not a wise policy and must in any 
large city give way to a regular and systematic po- 
licing of the parks. Moreover, in this particular 
case the difficulty may easily be exaggerated, for the 
fact that the sides of the valley cut off the sight of 
adjacent streets and houses from the main drive and 
paths does not necessarily mean that the valley itself 
is to be filled with dense thickets and somber groves. 
It may, indeed, be open and sunnny, with but enough 
trees to give desirable shade. 

"It would appear, then, that the open-valley 
project would afford the more satisfactory parkway 
and that its cost would certainly be much less than 



13 



that of the culvert plan; but there are still other 
points to be taken into consideration, of which the 
most important is, perhaps, that the culvert plan 
would add a considerable area to the building- land 
of the city, from which in time a large income would 
be derived in taxes. The same argument may be 
raised against the withdrawal of any park land from 
commercial occupancy, and it is merely a question 
whether in this case the value of the park-like bor- 
ders to the drive and its partial seclusion from dis- 
agreeable surroundings would be worth the loss in 
taxes. In our opinion it would be, especially when 
it is considered that the potential purchasers of this 
land are not likely to be lost to the District as tax- 
payers, but will simply purchase other private land, 
increasing its value by improvements and paying 
the same taxes upon it. This raises the question, 
too, whether it is a wise policy and in accordance 
with our principles of government for the public 
authorities to go into real estate business in com- 
petition with the citizens. There appears to be at 
present no lack of land for sale in Washington, but 
rather a lack of sufficient market, and for the Gov- 
ernment to put additional land upon that market 
would seem a questionable blessing. If the Govern- 
ment is not to go heavily into real estate specula- 
tion in competition with the landowners of the Dis- 
trict, the cost of the culvert project becomes so enor- 
mous as to be utterly out of the question. 

"It is our conclusion, then, that the Rock Creek 
parkway should be treated as an open valley, crossed 
as often as may be necessary by handsome and sub- 
stantial bridges, flanked by traffic roads connecting 
on a level with the adjacent city streets, and includ- 
ing at a lower level near the stream a drive or 
drives and such paths as may be needed." 



14 



Extracts from Captain, Now Colonel, Rossell's 
Report, Published on Pages 239, 240 and 241, of 
"''The Report of the Operations of the Engineer 
Department of the District of Columbia for 1893." 

"The measurements of the land to be acquired by con- 
demnation, together with cost of same and of grading, 
with the price that might be expected for the land after 
the completion, has been reported on by my assistant, 
Capt. G. J. Fiebeger, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, 
whose report is appended. This report has been care- 
fully prepared, and is approved by me. 

"What will be the condemned value Of any piece of 
land it is impossible to say, and I only attempt to make 
a very rough approximation. To say what will be the 
selling value of the land after the improvement is also a 
matter of speculation, but I believe above Pennsylvania 
Avenue that double the condemnation value is conserva- 
tive. I therefore submit the following estimates, for the 
details of which I refer to the reports of my assistants : 

"Converting Rock Creek into a Covered Sewer 
and Filling Between Banks. 



appendix E. 

From the north line of Massachusetts Avenue 
to the Potomac river : 

Cost of covered waterway $2,990,412 

Sewer extensions 5i>500 

Damages to Chesapeake and Ohio Canal . 1 50,000 
Condemnation value of land 4,112,545 



15 



Filling and grading 2,083,324 

Contingencies 512,523 

Total cost $9,900,304 

Selling value of land 5,496,203 

Net cost $4,404,101 

From Massachusetts avenue to Pennsylvania 
avenue : 

Cost of covered waterway $2,358,925 

Sewer extensions 51,500 

Condemnation value of land 3,562,615 

Filling and grading 1,752,424 

Contingencies 416,284 

Total cost $8,141,748 

Total cost, carried forward 8,141,748 

Selling value of land 4,957,056 

Net cost $3,184,692 

From Lyon's mill to Pennsylvania avenue: 

Cost of covered waterway $1,473,950 

Sewer extensions 5T,5°° 

Condemnation value of land t, 917, 864 

Filling and grading 880,670 

Contingencies 240,612 

Total cost $4,564,506 

Selling value of land 2,908,768 

Net cost $1,655,828 



16 



From the intersection of Twenty-fifth and 
O Streets to Twenty-fifth Street extended : 

Cost of covered waterway $718,960 

Sewer extensions 49,500 

Condemnation value of land I >596,559 

Filling and grading 427,822 

Contingencies 1 19,628 

Total cost $2,912,469 

Selling value of land 2,296,723 

Net cost $615,746 

"In connection with the cost of this work I would 
state that the claims of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Canal Company to the portion of the abutting land 
south of Pennsylvania avenue, and extending even 
along the bank of the Potomac River, are very large, 
both as to value of wharf property and of the accre- 
tion of land. The values of wharf properties belong- 
ing to other parties are also very uncertain, and I 
have not attempted in this report to make any esti- 
mate as to the probable cost of these to the United 
States, because I believe it to be an impossibility. 

"Though not required by the resolution, I have 
given the cost of this work between the different 
limits so that full information on the subject might 
be had. It will be noticed that the largest item in 
each estimate is the condemnation value of the land ; 
it is also the most uncertain one. No allowance has 
been made for interest on sums expended from the 
time of each expenditure to the time when the re- 
claimed land will be sold. This time will be long, 
and will add materially to the cost. 



17 



"In closing I will only add a few words as to the 
advantages to the District of this work. As a means 
of a sewage disposal it would be wrong in principle 
and enormously expensive. But, until works for the 
proper disposal of the sewage can be built, Rock 
Creek must carry sewage. It is greatly to be hoped 
that this time may be short. To reduce the unsani- 
tary conditions promptly the canal company should 
be required to open the gates at the mouth of the 
creek every night and the creek should be flushed. 

"From a sanitary standpoint I can see no necessitv 
for covering the creek at all if the sewage is kept out 
of it. 

"This improvement, reclaiming a large body of 
land between Washington and Georgetown and mak- 
ing them one, will increase the revenues of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia by the increased taxation, and will 
add to the beauty of the city. The bridges can also 
be omitted at K, M, and P Streets, and Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue." 

Very respectfully, 

Wm. T. T. Rossell, 
Captain, Corps of Engineers, 
U. S. Army, Engineer Com- 
missioner, District of Co- 
lumbia. 
Hon. L. P. Morton, 

Vice-President, Presiding 
Officer, U. S. Senate. 



18 



EXTRACTS FROM CAPTAIN FIEBEGER'S RE- 
PORT, PAGES 241 AND 242. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE IMPROVEMENT. 

"South of Pennsylvania avenue the top of the 
arched waterway will be about 20 feet above the level 
of the streets at its intersection with K street, and 
still higher at Virginia avenue. This will necessi- 
tate considerable filling to bring the adjacent squares 
to this level and to connect the streets of Washing- 
ton with those of Georgetown. 

"Between Pennsylvania avenue and P street the 
top of the arch will be below the level of the banks 
of the creek, and there will be no difficulty in uniting 
the two cities with the present grades of the streets. 

"Between P and R streets it is proposed to fill the 
valley so that both Q and R streets may be connected 
with Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth streets ex- 
tended, as shown on the plans and sections. 

"North of R street, as Massachusetts avenue is 
parallel to the creek and has its grade established, 
it is proposed to fill the valley in such a way that its 
slope will incline gradually from the avenue west- 
ward to Park Drive, which will be located on the east 
line of Oak Hill Cemetery. The inclination will be 
such that no street will have a greater slope than 
4 feet in 100, and the encroachment on the cemetery 
will be as little as possible. 

"Park Drive will pass under Massachusetts ave- 
nue, as heretofore proposed, into the valley above." 

Amount and Cost of Filling — Page 242. 

"The total amount of filling which is given in the 
accompanying estimates, is over 6,000,000 cubic 
yards. Such a quantity of material could not be ob- 



19 



tained in any one place in the District west of the 
Anacostia river, and could be obtained more cheap- 
ly from Virginia, south of the Potomac. It would, 
however, be advisable to obtain as much as possible 
from the surburban streets adjacent to the valley, 
even at a higher cost. I have, therefore, made the 
estimate at 40 cents a cubic yard, which is somewhat 
greater than it would be if all the material were ob- 
tained from a single burrow pit on the south side of 
the Potomac River. 

"During the progress of the work an amount not 
to exceed 100,000 cubic yards per year will be prob- 
ably deposited in the valley by contractors and build- 
ers. 

"It is estimated that 1,000,000 cubic yards would 
be thus deposited without cost to the improvement. 

"The remaining amount is distributed in the vari- 
ous sections of the work as follows : 

From Massachusetts Avenue to Potomac 

River, 5,208,310 cubic yards, at 40c. . $2,083,324 

From Massachusetts Avenue to Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue, 4,381,000 cubic yards, 
at 40 cents 1,752,424 

From Lyon's mill to Pennsylvania avenue, 

2,201,675 cubic yards, at 40 cents. . . . 880,670 
Ml east of Twenty-fifth Street extended 
1,069,555 cubic yards, at 40 cents. . . . 427,822 

Ten per cent should be added to the above for en- 
gineering and contingencies. 

The Problem — Page 246. 

"The proposition to arch over the lower part of 
Rock Creek means that a dam of unusual thickness, 
with its top at the elevation of about 70 feet, is to be 



20 



thrown across the valley of the creek, from its mouth 
to its intersection with Massachusetts avenue extend- 
ed, thus converting the valley above the dam, to the 
height of the contour of 70 feet, into a reservoir. 
This reservoir must be prevented from filling up 
with water to any marked extent by an outlet having 
sufficient capacity to provide a free discharge for the 
stream during the heaviest and most prolonged rain- 
fall that may be expected to occur throughout the 
basin. With the project carried to completion, the 
gap between Washington and Georgetown will cease 
to exist, and a densely populated area will be sub- 
ject to flooding and possible disaster, if the dam be 
overtopped. The outlet once built, its discharging 
capacity will become practically a fixed quantity, 
while the ability of the basin to produce higher and 
higher floods at the head of the outlet will constant- 
ly increase as its surface passes from a rural toward 
an urban character. 

"A further danger which must not be overlooked, 
lies in the fact that a great freshet in Rock Creek 
may be expected to bring down large trees, portions 
of iron and wooden bridges, and other debris of 
large quantity. Unless the covered channel be made 
of ample dimensions its mouth would be subject to 
stoppage by drift of the kind described. Whether a 
flood in the city would follow or not would depend 
on the period required to fill the reservoir formed by 
the embankment over the covered channel, and the 
possibility, which is by no means apparent, of clear- 
ing away the drift within a reasonable time. The 
contents of the reservoir are estimated at 177,000,- 
000 cubic feet. With water entering at the rate of 
20,000 cubic feet per second, and none leaving it, 
the reservoir would be filled in about two hours and 
a half." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



000 883 820 3 



